


Hold On/Hold Tight

by snapfreeze



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Tags May Change, slow burn (kind of)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 12:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6520558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snapfreeze/pseuds/snapfreeze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And hold tight, don't make more plans / And don't talk, don't say no words / And be still, now move like this / And hold on until we kiss</p><p>Ratings may change, archive warnings may change, tags may change,  more characters and tags may get added as the fic is updated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold On/Hold Tight

Blake didn't want to come to this party: the music was painfully loud, sweaty bodies kept pressing up against her, and people kept trying to socialise with her.

In fact, she wouldn't of have even bothered to come if it weren't for Sun's intervention. He had offered to do Blake's chores for a week if she stayed out until _at least_ 10pm.

So here Blake was, standing as far away from the speakers as humanly possible, clutching onto a near-full plastic cup of what she thought was some form of beer, wishing that time would go by a lot faster. She had lost Sun to the crowd the moment they stepped in, only seeing flashes of his blonde hair or monkey tail since.

A sudden bump stirred Blake from her thoughts, her cup nearly sloshing it's contents all over her shirt. Looking up, her amber eyes met a pair of apologetic grey ones, the young girl beginning to talk before Blake could excuse herself.

“Oh! I'm so sorry! Did I spill any of your drink on your shirt?”

“No.” Blake responded, hoping her sharp tone would hint that she wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately, the girl continued.

“Oh good! Because I was worried that I spilt something on your nice shirt, and that's not a good first impression to make, I told Yang that I wouldn't be a klutz, but here I am, being a klutz.” She paused for a moment, laughing awkwardly, and Blake guessed that social situations weren't her strong point. “You haven't seen a tall Chinese girl with blonde hair and big...” Blake raised an eyebrow to the girl's gestures, but let her continue, “... nevermind. Anyway, she's carrying around equipment that makes her look like an arsonist and I swear to you she's not, she's just doing a thing, and if you see her, tell her that Coco has cordoned off a section of the back yard for her and oh God I forgot to introduce myself, _damnit_.”

If anything, Blake was impressed by the sheer volume of words coming out of her mouth in such a short space of time. She still didn't want to socialise with strangers.

“I'm sorry,” Blake began, looking away from the girl and into the crowd and _there_ , she caught a glimpse of that blasted monkey tail again, “but I just found my friend.”

Without even a goodbye, Blake deposited her cup on the side and quickly walked away, not turning to look back at the girl's dejected face.

She pushed through the throng of bodies, dodging occasionally when a hand got too close to her bow, but managed to get on the other side of the improvised dance floor nonetheless. She quickly noticed Sun vaulting over the top of a sofa to sit in-between two boys.

“Sun,” she said as she approached.

He nearly jumped out of his skin, pressing his palm against his chest as he turned around. “Blake! Why do you do that to me every time?”

Blake simply shrugged in response, hugging her own body to defend against the multiple sets of eyes suddenly staring at her.

“Oh! Blake, it's about time you met the team!” Sun grinned, pulling the two boys beside him into an uncomfortable-looking hug. “The one by my left pec is Neptune, and the one by my right pec is Scarlet and...” he looked around the room, “and we lost Sage again, damnit.”

“Uh, hi guys.”

The boys tried to respond, only to be muffled by Sun's chest.

“Oh, whoops, my bad.” Sun released his friends, both of whom sighed in relief, rubbing their sore faces.

“So, Blake is it?” Neptune asked, and Blake nodded in response. She was hoping only Sun would be over here, but she'd take what she could get get. A friend of a friend was better than a total stranger. “Sun always talks about you. I can't believe you two are roommates and I've only see you a grand total of what, once? And that was only for a few seconds.”

“I'm a very private person.”

“And that's not a problem! Girls who have a mysterious aura to them are totally cute.” Neptune put on an award winning smile that Blake was sure had wooed many girls that weren't her.

Sun dug his elbow into Neptune's side, muttering a few words under his breath. Blake tuned out as soon as the first 'dude' was uttered.

“... Anyway.” Scarlet said, ignoring his friend's attempt at flirting, “are you staying for the show? Coco's parties are renowned for some kind of surprise, and this time's cryptic hint was 'nightfall'. Sun thinks it's aliens,” to which Sun furiously nodded his head, “Neptune thinks it's fireworks, and I think we're finally going to be embracing the pirate aesthetic and rob some rich bastard senseless.”

“Robbing someone with what, 70? 80 people?”

“Well,” Scarlet said, looking affronted, “what do _you_ think?”

“I don't know, but someone did mention that Coco has cordoned off an area of the back yard for something.” Blake didn't mean for her tone to be so harsh.

“Dude!” Sun exclaimed, leaping up from his seat, “let's go now, so we can get the best seats! I'd hate to be stuck behind Sage, even though he would totally be cool with having me on his shoulders.”

Scarlet and Neptune shrugged at each other before getting up to follow Sun outside. Blake, hoping to avoid interaction with anybody else, followed as well.

The sun was setting, casting its final rays for the day over the large yard. In the back, Blake could see four metal poles sticking out of a stone patio in square formation, with rope linking the poles together: the entire cordoned off area covered the whole patio, leaving the grass outside of the house, the house itself, and the shed roofs for spectators.

Sun, it seemed, had chosen the latter as their viewing spot, easily hauling himself and Neptune onto the roof, Scarlet quickly scaling the shed afterwards.

“Need a hand up?” Sun offered, extending his hand.

Blake ignored him, taking a small running jump to pull herself up with great ease.

Blake sat down on the wooden roof. The seats were perfect: she had a good view of the entire yard, and the patio from up here.

With nightfall approaching, party goers soon moved to the back yard as word quickly spread about. Most were having excited conversations about the possible surprise, while a few were trying to stay upright after having consumed excessive amounts of alcohol.

By the time most of the guests had found a place to stand or sit, the moon had risen, darkening the yard quite considerably. Blake had no problem seeing however, not that any other guests needed to know that.

Someone that Blake thought must be Coco took center stage first, and the party quieted down almost instantly.

“Alright, I'm not gonna beat around the bush for this, that cordon is there for your safety. Cross it, or do something stupid while the show happens, and your ass is getting kicked out, courtesy of Yatsuhashi. After this, feel free to continue to get plastered until the sun rises again. Enjoy.”

Blake was almost taken aback by the woman's bluntness. _With that attitude, definitely Coco._ Blake thought. As she thought this, the same grey-eyed girl from earlier took Coco's position.

“Good evening everyone! We have a special surprise in for you tonight.” The party cheered at this, and Blake noted that the girl's awkwardness from earlier had disappeared. “Now! I know a lot of you are gonna whip your phones out for this, so it's best recorded or photographed with flash off, and make sure to tag @Fireballin17 on Twitter so we can use the footage.”

Neptune had already pulled his phone out, and Blake was half tempted to do so herself. “Anyway! Some of you may know her as your friend, an old classmate, or someone who threw you out of the bar at an ungodly hour. I assure you, she is not that person. Not any more.” Wow, this girl had a flair for the dramatics. “So may I introduce you to the last surviving dragon in the West, Yang Xiao Long!”

As soon as the girl ducked out, music began to play again, but Blake took no notice. From the darkness, two poles were set set alight, illuminating a woman standing between them.

Blake audibly gasped; she was _beautiful_.

Gorgeous golden hair was tied back, revealing a freckled face, neck and shoulders. The woman – Yang, even – had the most entrancing violet eyes Blake had ever seen, and the yellow vest she was wearing did wonders for her muscle definition, among other things. Blake would've noticed more if she weren't so mesmerised by Yang's face.

The music picked up and Yang began to swing and twirl her props, the fire whooshing by her. Sometimes, she threw one of the props into the air, catching them with great ease.

Yang was playing with fire, and to say Blake had never seen such a hypnotising act was a gross understatement.

The way Yang spun the poles about without an inch of fear on her face was simply amazing. With the light constantly changing and illuminating the woman in several different ways, Blake could say with absolute certainty that this was the most beautiful woman – no, goddess – she had ever laid eyes upon.

Yang paused for a moment to place one of the props in a holder off to the side, and took a swig of clear liquid from a plastic bottle near her feet.

The crescendo of the music hit, and Yang _breathed_.

A volcano of fire erupted forward from her mouth, and even from on the shed roof, Blake could feel the heat. And yet, a shiver still went down Blake's spine.

Everything else faded into the background. For Blake it was only her and Yang. In that moment, nothing else mattered. Sun's aliens could arrive and Blake wouldn't have given a damn unless it stopped the performance.

It didn't stop there: as soon as that first fire dissipated, Yang replaced it with three short bursts, always keeping to the beat of the music. Each volley of fire lit her up, and Blake had never felt so alive and so warm in her life.

Yang never stopped moving, utilising the entire corded off area. In one breath, she was setting the ground near her feet alight, and in the next she had leaped to the side to let loose a long stream of fire across the width of the patio.

When the music slowed down, Yang walked closer towards the crowd, bringing the prop to her mouth only once. This time, when Yang breathed, the fire stayed, even with the prop lowered. It was continually sustained long enough for Yang to walk from one end to the other and Blake wanted to redact her earlier statement: she wasn't in the presence of a goddess, she was truly in the presence of a dragon. Or a dragon faunus, as impossible as they were.

To top it all off, she ended the trick with a flourish, twirling the prop around once again and looked directly at Blake.

And she _winked_.

If Blake wasn't red from the heat now, she was certainly red from the blush that now covered her skin.

By the time she was in control of her own reactions again, Yang had gone. Blake's blush, however, had not.

As soon as the beat dropped once again, Yang easily tucked herself into a backflip, the fire following in a half crescent as she went up and over.

Blake could tell that Yang would be smiling if she could. There was something about the way she moved, with every step taken confidently. Every motion was purposeful. Each action had such elation and energy that everybody in the vicinity was infected with the same joy.

Blake wished she could capture some of the fire mid-air and keep it forever; to treasure this memory. A sinking feeling in her gut reminded her that she'd never see Yang again, and that she couldn't possibly be good enough or interesting enough for this woman, but she pushed that feeling down, trying to memorise every single second of the performance.

With the song nearing its end, Yang took center stage after retrieving the other prop from its holder.

As the final notes of the song played, Yang swallowed the fire whole. A moment passed as she removed the prop, and then suddenly she blew smoke from her nose and mouth. Blake, in a passing unchecked thought, thought it was the single hottest thing she'd seen in her lifetime.

The crowd erupted into cheering and clapping. Blake was amongst them, with Sun beside her hooting and hollering.

Yang bowed. She took the time to grin at all the cameras, posing or making fingerguns. With that done, she extinguished the other prop in a bucket of sand, and disappeared out the back yard gate.

For the first time in her life, Blake was sad to see a stranger go.

Party goers, now hyped up further from the performance, began to flood back into the house. Sun turned to Blake, an excited grin plastered across his face.

“That was awesome!”

“Yeah. It kind of was.” _Understatement_ , Blake thought.

“It was just so...” Sun was cut off by someone calling his name. “Oh, hey Sage! Meet Blake!”

Blake turned around to look at the large man down below.

“Hey Blake. Any of you up there wanna play beer pong? Cardin just said he's the champion of beer pong, and I'm determined to knock that smarmy look off his face.”

Blake shook her head. “You guys go on ahead. I'm going to cool down out here.”

“You sure?” Sun asked.

“Yeah. I think all that fire made me overheat.” In reality, it was 20% wanting to avoid Cardin, and 80% wanting to stop blushing.

Shrugging at each other, the boys jumped down off the shed roof – well, Neptune stumbled, but close enough – and wandered off.

Blake allowed the somewhat cool night air to coat her skin before jumping down herself. And for the first time in a decent while, she pulled out her phone to check the time. 9:47pm.

“Thinking of leaving already?”

Blake looked up from her phone, and nearly dropped it in surprise.

In front of Blake, holding an icepack to her neck, was Yang herself. A gust of wind breezed by, and Blake got a whiff of something foul; she scrunched her nose up in response.

“Whoops, forgot that not everyone is immune to the stench of kerosene. That stuff is great for fire shows, but it's an absolute ass to wash off.”

Blake was pretty sure that her brain had completely overloaded. She fumbled for any words.

“I'll get used to it. Give me a moment.” _There we go_.

“No problem.” Yang extended her hand forward. “If you didn't hear it the first time round, I'm Yang, local hotshot.”

Taking her hand and ignoring the pun, Blake noticed the tattoos winding around Yang's arms and nearly forgot to respond – again. “I'm Blake. Is that a phoenix?”

Yang's eyebrows knotted in confusion for a brief moment before she made a noise of realisation. “Oh! I completely forgot that Fenghuang is called the phoenix in English. Forgot English was a thing for a moment there, whoops.” Yang chuckled, and somehow it wasn't awkward. “And yeah, you'd be exactly right. I got their yang right here,” Yang presented her opposite arm, revealing a dragon winding around it, its head cresting upon her shoulder.

“The artwork is beautiful. Did you get it done around here?”

“Fenghuang was. The dragon was done in Hong Kong when me and my family visited a year and a half ago.” Yang seemed to pause and think for a moment, “you busy? Meeting up with anyone?”

Blake squinted. “Why?”

Yang gestured towards the patio. “Got a lot of stuff to move, and an extra pair of non-greasy hands would be amazing.”

“Ah.”

“Normally my sister would help, but she actually has a social life tonight, and I'm not stopping that.”

“Your sister is antisocial?”

Yang laughed and shook her head. “More like socially awkward and one hell of a klutz.” Removing the ice pack from her neck, Yang moved over to the cordon. “Anyway, that's enough about me. What about you? Are you a local, Blake?”

Blake froze mid-step: she wasn't used to questions about herself. She'd much rather fade into the background. “Why? Who's asking?”

“Woah, hey,” Yang put her hand up in surrender as best as she could with poles in them. “I'm just curious. But if you don't wanna answer, that's absolutely fine.”

Blake squinted again. “Easy as that?”

“Easy as that.” Yang smiled, and turned towards the back gate. “Grab the black box and follow me. Keep it upright, otherwise you'll get kerosene all over you.”

Blake followed Yang into alleyway behind Coco's residence, and out onto the street. Once there, Yang made a sweeping motion to introduce--

“This is Bumblebee! Oh, and Wasp, the sidecar.”

Blake raised an eyebrow at the yellow and orange sidecar and bike pair, and then shrugged her shoulders; anything was par for the course at this point.

“It's... certainly the most unique bike I've seen.”

“ _She's_ custom-built and home made.” Propping up the poles on the side of the bike, Yang began to coo and gently stroke the vehicle. “And she's the prettiest hybrid this side of the US, yes she is, yes she is.”

Making it a point to not stare at Yang and her current antics, Blake let out a gentle cough.

“Oh! Right. Put the box in Wasp. I'll strap it down in a moment.” Yang procured a water bottle from the sidecar and sat down on the pavement, patting the space next to her.

Taking a perch next to Yang, Blake was thankful for the cool wind breezing past. It seemed that the closer she was, the hotter she got.

“Here, have some of this. You look thirsty.”

“Pardon?”

Yang put the water bottle into her hands. “You know, wanting a drink. While you have some of that, you can tell me how the performance was.”

“It was...” Blake took a swig, hoping that the drinking would cover up her awkwardness. “Mesmerising. Beautiful. I hadn't seen anything like it before.”

Yang grinned, all teeth and every inch of it genuine. “That's good. I worry that the fire breathing thing wears out, but it's good that people keep finding it entertaining. I'd be out of a paying hobby otherwise.”

“This is a hobby? A paid hobby?” Blake passed the water bottle back.

“Can't do it often though, otherwise I'd start getting some serious health issues.” Yang shrugged and took a swig from the bottle. “I was gonna do this for free because Coco is a great friend, but she put $200 in my hand tonight and wouldn't take no for an answer. Bless her.”

“Wow.”

“A lot, I know. Shame I can't do it more often."

“If playing with fire is your hobby, I can't even imagine what your day job is.”

Yang winked again, and this time, Blake couldn't hide her blush in the crowd. “A girl's gotta have some secrets.”

“You've been telling me your life story from the get go, what's making you hold back now?”

This time, Yang was the one to look away. “Maybe I wanna see you again. I might be a highly sociable butterfly, but I don't wink at just anybody.”

“Oh.” _Am I that important?_ “You've decided all that already?”

“Hey, you don't be me and get this far in life without being a risk taker.”

Blake crossed her arms. “You think I'm a risk?”

Yang, to her credit, looked genuinely embarrassed. “Excuse me, I have to remove my foot from my mouth immediately.” She put her hand over her heart and pretended to feel faint. “It's a serious medical issue.”

For the first time that night, Blake chuckled. An actual chuckle.

Yang stood up and finished off the bottle, chucking it into the sidecar when she was done. “Alright, would you mind grabbing the last box? No kerosene this time, just first aid kits.”

“Sure,” she said, and headed back to the yard.

As she entered the patio again, she saw Sun laying on the grass next to Sage. “Sun?”

“Hey Blake.” He responded without turning to her. “I may be slightly drunk.”

“Really now.”

“Cardin got his ass whooped at beer pong though. Go team!” Sage let out a soft whoop at this, too tipsy to put any actual effort.

“That's lovely to hear.”

With some minor struggling, Sun produced his phone from his pocket, squinting and blinking as he unlocked it. “Oh hey! It's past 10pm. You're free to go now. I'm so proud.”

“And now you get to do my chores for a week.” She said as she located Yang's box and picked it up.

“Worth it. See you later, Blake.”

Nodding in acknowledgement, Blake left the yard and walked back out to Bumblebee. Yang was strapping down the poles to her bike. She had swapped the kerosene dampened tank for a clean white buttoned v-neck.

“I have your box.”

“Fantastic! Put it in with Wasp.” Blake did, and Yang tied it up with the rest of the boxes. After a few adjustments to the rope around the vehicle, she seemed happy with the results.

Yang tapped her nails along the metal of her vehicle. “How are you getting home? I got a long drive ahead of me, but I don't mind giving you a ride and turning it into an adventure.”

Blake blanched. It would give her pause if it was just the bike on its own, but with all the stuff attached to it _and_ the sidecar? Definitely not. “I'm taking the bus back. Got a bus pass I don't want to waste.”

“Want me to walk you to the bus stop?”

Blake looked to the bike. “With that thing in tow?”

“Sure!” Yang grinned. “She's quite light compared to what I'm used to.”

“... then I'd like that. In fact, I plan on leaving now, if you're ready to go too.”

She kicked the bike off its stand, and nodded her head to Blake. “Lead the way.”

Barely 30 seconds had passed before Yang asked another question. “How come you're leaving early? You got work too?”

Blake shrugged and shook her head. “I'm just... done with socialising tonight. My roommate offered to do my chores for a week if I stayed out until at least 10pm, and it's past that now.”

Yang laughed. “Well, I'm glad you came out. I wouldn't have met you otherwise.”

For the upteenth time that night, Blake blushed. Yang's honesty would be the end of her.

The rest of the walk went by in silence; Blake was happy not to talk and Yang seemed satisfied with the answers she had received earlier.

Too soon, the bus stop came into view and Blake turned to say goodbye to Yang. Before she could speak, however, Yang got in the first word.

“I know I'm assuming a whole lot when I say this, but you know, I'm a risk taker.” Yang chuckled nervously, and rummaged through her pockets, eventually producing a small strip of paper. Reaching over, she placed it into Blake's hands, and Blake had to fight against yet another blush attempting to grow on her cheeks.

Looking down, Blake read “YANG 8)” in block handwriting, followed by a group of numbers.

“My number, if you ever feel like it. No hard feelings if you just tear it up later though.” Yang was back to drumming her fingers on her bike.

Blake allowed a small smile to spread across her face and stored the number carefully into her jeans pocket. “Thanks, Yang.” Behind her, a bus came to a halt. “This is my ride.”

“It was nice meeting you, Blake.” Blake could tell Yang was holding back from giving a hug, for which she was thankful. She was pretty sure she'd explode if Yang touched her again.

“It was nice meeting you too. Thanks for tonight.”

After pulling on a well-loved leather jacket, Yang vaulted onto her bike, turning it on with great ease. Blake jumped at the roar of the engine, the vibrations bouncing through her chest even from a good foot away. Yang pulled on a bright yellow half-helmet, giving Blake yet another wink before driving off into the night.

Blake watched Yang disappear into the night, clutching onto the strip of paper in her pocket. Perhaps talking to strangers wasn't as bad as she thought.

**Author's Note:**

> hoo boy, I actually finally put out an atual RWBY fic after 20 billion other ideas, gg me
> 
> my beta made this absolutely possible, because they ran my ass through a literary gauntlet and it was Incredible
> 
> this fic was kind of inspired by multiple Bumblebee fics as I have a horrible habit of reading things at 3 in the morning and my brain immediately getting a ton of ideas, so shout outs to 'Ven a bailar' by Noscere, the 'Nothing Like You' series by poisonedapple and 'Ms. Dynamite' by TechnoSkittles. all of the above are good ass fics and I 100% recommend giving them a read
> 
> the song Yang fire breathes to is Yellow Claw - Shotgun (Flaxo Remix), and the fic title and part of the description is from Holy Ghost! - Hold On
> 
> comments are more than welcome, and if you want to yell in my general direction on other platforms, you can find me on tumblr @ femboss
> 
> edit: whoops forgot to mention that this is account is shared and this fic has been posted by the English author


End file.
